Pros/Cons and Challenges Caused by USERRA

Pros/Cons and Challenges Caused by USERRA

Applies Broadly to Service Members and other Chosen Beneficiaries

“The provisions of Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act work best for the members of the U.S Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and different classifications of individuals who are selected by the president in times of warfare or a national crisis” (Kelly, 2016, p. 367). Coverage by USERRA is provided to the individuals who applied to be in the uniformed services as well as the reservists of the state. USERRA relates to all the involuntary and voluntary caparisoned service duty (Gates, McGovern, Waggoner, Winkler, Pierson, Andrews, & Buryk 2013, p. 12). This includes weekend drills, active duty, annual training, and some local emergencies that produce federal responses.

Protection against Discrimination

Speaking generally, the body is a law that protects the veterans from discrimination that is depended on military service, where it gives more reemployment rights for service members who are coming back to the national personnel. USERRA forbids all, regardless of their rank and their size, from discriminating counter to service members in the daily problems of employment and hiring. The employers are prohibited from doing specific jobs and hiring decisions that are influenced by the future, past, and present of a person’s military service (Gates et al. 2013, p.13). The anti-discriminatory securities are parallel to the individuals who exist in other statuses on the grounds of religion, gender, and race. The body bars employers from reacting against workers who have presented USERRA assertions or who have been involved in any inquiries that involve the claims of USERRA. For instance, an employer is not allowed to demote or fire a worker who has made a USERRA grievance to DOL (Delattre, 2011, Pg.480).

Reemployment Rights

The body accords the service members the privilege to go back to the jobs that they held previously, which they would require to hold with sensible inevitability if they had not left for military work. Even though the concept of reemployment is clear, the integration of the rule is somewhat byzantine. Concerns regarding promotions, paid leaves of absence, health benefits, and skill maintenance are some of the difficulties that may ensue when clarifying the advantages that are entitled to the service members.      

Protects Promotions and Job Advancements

Assuming that an individual intends to return to work in the legitimately stated time structure, but the exemptions to presumptive reemployment do not rub in, the service fellow will not be liable to return to work. When a service member goes to the military, they step off the standard lift of job advancement and promotion activities that happen occur during the typical periods of service. Missing out on such prospects is a definite drawback to the service affiliate and maybe a discouragement to offer for military overhaul (Delattre, 2011, Pg.492).

The law extends reemployment protections to reduce the disruptions that deal would have on the civilian career of the member, by including the rights of the workers to select escalator advancements. When one completes the military services, the service member is eligible to reemployment at the rank on the position where they would have held if they had not left for service in the military. Determining the appropriate rank on the incline depends on the period that one has been away from work (Gates et al. 2013, p. 16). Nevertheless, time away from work may impact the abilities and the skills of the individuals. Employers should know that it is vital that they do rational hard work to support a recurring service adherent to fill the escalator positions if the period away has implicated in the absence and the erosion of necessary skills. Therefore, USERRA protects the career advancement and seniority interests of the returning service members in terms of both position and benefits. Nevertheless, the protections of the service members are subject to case-by-case fortitude and scrutiny.

Protects Health Plans and Pension Benefits

USERRA protects the benefits that are linked to civilian employment of the service members, like pension benefits and health plans. Service associates have the choice of maintaining health procedures that are delivered by their bosses. If a member serves for at most 31 days, the member is then not obligated to pay more than the normal worker part of the coverage. Also, proprietors are anticipated to give admission to firm-funded health plans to workers who are on fighting dispensation for a partial time. The maximum coverage age that workers are entitled to give under the USERRA body is the slighter of either two years following the commencement of the absence of the service participant.

On the matters regarding the pension benefits, the staff can uphold their boss-sponsored allowance plans while they are away in the military. The time that they used up away from their employment will be viewed as employment period that they spend with their employers for the buildup of pensions (Delattre, 2011, Pg.496). Nevertheless, when a service member is on the line of duty, the employer is not responsible for contributing to any employer or employee based contribution pension plans until the time when the service member is back.

Ensures Service Members’ Coverage

There exist two-state packages that assist in resolving disputes that are related to the USERRA between the employers and the service employees. “To begin with, a service member who feels that their employer has violated their rights can make complaints to Department of Defense’s Veteran’s Employment and Training Services” (Gates et al. 2013 p.19). VETS purposes to mainly scrutinize employment conflicts before any authorized measures are taken, even though it arbitrates some of the disputes. “If a worker is a member of Reserves or Guard, they have the preference of creating a grievance with the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR)” (Gates et al. 2013 p.19). The ESGR body gives services of informal mediation via its ombudsmen.

Exceptions to the General Presumption of Reemployment rights

“Dissimilar from other reemployment legislation that relieves owners under a particular threshold, USERRA covers all employers irrespective of their scope. Nevertheless, the body also considers the employers as they have exceptions where the employers can deny reemployment to reemploying some of the service associates” (Delattre, 2011, Pg.503). For instance, an owner is not obligated to hire a service member if the state of the business such that doing so would be impossible and unreasonable.

Cons

The Requirements of Employees Seeking Reemployment

USERRA provides that a worker who leaves his work to serve in the military is eligible for reemployment. Nevertheless, there are five legal requirements that the service member must reach to qualify for the rights of reemployment.  The first requirement is that an employee has to provide their employer with an oral or written notice that they will be leaving the job due to military-related reasons. When giving the notice, the employee doesn’t need to indicate whether or not they will be returning to employment. The second provision is that the cumulative period of absence as a result of military service is not expected to be more than five years (Gates et al. 2013 p. 14). The five-year clock is intended to relieve the workers of any legal responsibilities of service members who exceed five years on an initial obligation but want to return for employment.

The third legal requirement is that when the service member completes the military duty, they should notify their employers with a particular period that the law dictates that they are seeking reemployment. The service lengths determine the period when the employers should be informed that one seeks to be reemployed. The fourth requirement is that the absence of the employees must be as a result of service in the military. The fifth legal necessity is that service members should not receive a discharge from the service that is disqualifying.

Challenges of USERRA

Challenges Faced by Employers when a Service Member Returns from Duty

One problem that employers face when their employees return from duty is that there are issues when readjusting to civilian life, mostly when the employee is injured. Many employees come back with increased emotional and street problems. Even though the USERRA supports the reemployment of service members, this is sometimes challenging for the employers since the members have lost the abilities and the skills to be competent to fill their job positions once more.

Also, when a certified, trained, and a skilled worker is far away for work, rehiring them involves extra expenditures to the business, mostly in the incident of absenteeism for an extended period. The prices and the requirements of returning military members and the exams for the individuals who may have missed them are a challenge (Delattre, 2011, Pg.508). Many employers are faced with the issue of terminating workers who had been employed to replace the ones who left for military duty. It is precisely imperative to note that many employers express sentiments that the trials they come across when handling military duty are so severe that the encumbrance has steered them to avoid hiring the Reserve Component fellows.

References

Delattre, E. J. (2011). Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing. Lanham: Rowman &           Littlefield Pub. Group.

Gates, S. M., McGovern, G., Waggoner, I., Winkler, J. D., Pierson, A., Andrews, L., & Buryk, P. (2013). Supporting Employers in the Reserve Operational Forces Era: Are Changes Needed to Reservists’ Employment Rights Legislation, Policies, Or Programs? (No. RAND-RR-152-OSD). RAND NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH INST SANTA MONICA CA.

Kelley, B. J. (2016). All Quiet on the Employment Front: Mandatory Arbitration Under the USERRA. Hofstra Lab. & Emp. LJ, 34, 367.